Vegetable Garden

Wow, what a cold, cold week we’ve had, I barely poked my nose out the door, so there was plenty of creative time in the kitchen to keep warm…

This week’s big hits were Duck and Quince Pies and Cream of Celeriac and Parsnip Soup…

The Duck and Quince Pies were made from leftover meat from the duck necks I’d been working with. Can you believe that from six duck necks, I used the skin as the casing for pork, garlic and red wine sausages, duck stock and duck ravioli as well as these delicious pies, not bad, hey!!!?

In the pantry I have jars of deep burgundy coloured quinces that I’d preserved and thought they would go amazingly with the duck. So got to it, making sure that I made note of everything I used and how much of each. The end result was amazing, we got two good sized individual pies together with quite a few cocktail sized pies which always come in handy, either as a canapé, or an addition to some duck dish, just to add a little interest, flavour and/or texture.

Then there was soup and sweet night… Don’t you love that. Nice warm soup and then later as we sat in front of the roaring open fire, delicious sweet treats for dessert. I had purchased a lovely celeriac to make a mash from, but with the weather so bleak and cold, we needed soup. I had plenty of parsnips in the fridge, so this soup, topped with parsnip crisps was perfect. I absolutely love parsnip crisps, so made sure I made extra as a cook’s treat.

Cream of Celeriac and Parsnip Soup…

As for the sweet treats,

Who could beat Chocolate Fondant!

With the weather on the improve, I finally got back into The Corner Patch and did a stocktake of what needs to be planted – there’s a lot of work to be done!!

And then escaped to the flower garden where I discovered a little bit of sunshine.

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Cream of Celeriac and Parsnip Soup.

Duck and Quince Pies

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It’s been a busy week, particularly for Gary, my husband, as we clear the area that is to become the vegie patch!

When we arrived here, there was a quince tree and a miniature lemon tree, and then six weeks later we found another lemon tree that was hidden between an overgrown hedge and the fence. But there was no vegie patch!

I am very excited that we are now working on the area that I will now refer to as the “Corner Patch”! Just before we went to Melbourne last week, Gary got the chainsaw out and took down four trees. Two flowering pears and two bays. Now for me, I’d much rather have pear trees that give fruit, and who needs two overgrown bay trees. One can only use so many bay leaves, and a tree in a pot is easier to control and provides more than enough leaves for the kitchen. The trees hid what had become a dumping area for anything rubbish and a lot of work was needed to clear it out, in fact it took FIVE trailer loads to the tip to get rid of everything, plus we have stored what wood we could from the trees to dry for the open fire next year.

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It is a standing joke among those we know that last year, in anticipation of the move, I bought 40 or so fruit trees, bare rooted, and we potted them into oversized pots to get them ready for their new home. So they are also about to be planted out, in the new area. A lot of them will be espaliered so that they will become features of the garden.

While all this work has been going on, there has not been a great deal happening in the kitchen. But we have enjoyed a lovely light Truffle Omelette, a quick and easy, as well as delightfully delicious evening meal. There was also a smoked potato soup with truffle shavings, cream and a little truffle oil, and a duck salad where I got to try my recently cured, air-dried duck breast, or as some like to call it duck prosciutto, and some of my confit duck leg. It was delicious.